Liquor Scam : ACB seeks govt action against 1,115 officials

• 138 private persons also found involvedA
• 69 officials are still in service; 12 retired
• Departmental action against 82 sought

Hyderabad : As many as 1,115 officials of Prohibition and Excise, Police and a couple of other departments were found embroiled in the liquor syndicate scandal. A Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which carried out a year-long probe under the instructions of the High Court, advised the government to initiate action against the tainted officials.

Government documents show that ACB recommended prosecution against 60 officials of the Prohibition and Excise Department and nine officials of the Police department, who are still in service. The ACB also recommended prosecution of 11 retired officials of Prohibition and Excise Department and one official from the General Administration Department.

The ACB advised that a whopping 566 officials from Prohibition and Excise Department, 192 from Police Department and one official from Labour, Employment and Training (L,E&T) Department should be placed before the Tribunal for Disciplinary Proceedings (TDP).

The government was also advised to entrust the cases against 186 officials of the Prohibition and Excise Department and four from Police Department, while departmental action was recommended against 36 Prohibition and Excise officials and 46 officials from the Police Department.

The ACB also said in its report given to the government that 138 private persons were involved in the liquor syndicate scam.A The report said Police and Excise officials collected monthly bribes for allowing the liquor traders violate the norms while excise officials issued liquor shop licenses in connivance with the liquor syndicate leaders to ineligible persons.

The report also said revenue officials issued white ration cards for ineligible persons in collusion with syndicate leaders and the same were used as bona fide certificates to secure liquor shop licenses.A The report further said the liquor syndicates paid bribes worth around Rs 70 crore annually to the officials of these departments. It said as many as 48 cases were registered and 132 persons including former district collector N Nageshwar Rao, ASP K Ram Prasad and some deputy commissioners of prohibition and excise were arrested apart from DSPs, inspectors, constables and other officials.

Some of the senior officials from Prohibition and Excise Department involved in the scandal according to the government orders include Superintendents Gorutangi Anjan Rao of Mahabubnagar, Sirasawada Nageswara Rao of Gadwal, P Dasaratha of Rajendranagar in Hyderabad, T. Vijaya Sekhar of Mahabubabad in Warangal district, K Madhusudan Reddy of Dhoolpet in Hyderabad, Ch Smitha of Hyderabad and M Adiseshu, Assistant Commissioner.